06/03/2016 Scottish Conservative Party Conference

Murrayfield, the home of Scottish rugby. It was the venue at the

independence referendum when I and another number of former players

came out and supported Better Together. I think you can be both

Scottish and British. One day on Friday the Tory team gathered at

Murrayfield to limber up for the May elections. A Scottish Conservatives

have come here in good spirit. They truly think the moment has come. The

party was initially sceptical about the idea of a Scottish parliament.

He went on to embrace that and now they have their sights set on

becoming the main opposition to the SNP. With the Scottish Parliament

due to get new financial powers of Labour and the Liberal Democrats are

looking for a penny increase in income tax while the SNP has

proposed increasing tax. Brian Taylor this to Ruth Davidson that

this would be a chance for her party to boot your clear water between her

party and the Conservatives. We don't want the tax burden in

Scotland to be higher than the UK. We do not want families to pay more

than if they lived south of the border. That is practical. If you

hang a big sign at Gretna saying higher taxes year, Scotland closed

for business use stop people coming here and investing. Do you

contemplate you might offer a cut in income tax, that would hang out a

sign that the Conservatives are open for votes, wouldn't it? I will talk

about leak this later on in my speech. I do not want to sell a

jersey. Whether it is an eye-catcher on whether it is problematic because

you then get asked what services you would cut? You can be all the

debates in the world but the buck stops at me and I will be speaking

to conference than just a few hours' time and making that they're the

plane. In the morning the conference heard from the new candidate which

the Pope will be the main opposition in the next Parliament. The SNP

government have excelled in spending taxpayers money. There are tough

decisions on how to raise that money. The throw free prescription

that each and everyone abides regardless of our ability to be.

Spending is also dropping and pressure is increasing day by day.

In Angus side patients in many surgeries are struggling to even get

a GP appointment. Cancer patients still face a postcode lottery when

it comes to life saving drugs and government targets are being failed

at every level. A waiting times have fields, a team referral to

treatment field but don't you worry because Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's

higher speed politician will get her paracetamol for nothing. The SNP

should be held to account for what they say, for what they do and they

should be held to account for what they don't do. What they said was at

the independence referendum was once any generation if not once in a this

was their vows and we made one too and we are delivering on our about

why legislating right now for a powerhouse parliament for Scotland

which is what we all want to see and they should be forced to deliver on

their about, too. The SNP should be held to account for what they do. In

a choice between inventing a grievance and governing the country

they would always somehow always rather choose the first over the

second. Whinge about the powers they don't have rather than getting on

with exercising the ample powers they do have. It is a familiar

complaint but perhaps one they should mean less because when they

do legislate my word that ugly. It is the most centralising government

Scotland has ever had. The most illiberal government Scotland has

ever had and for aspirational and hard-working and successful families

it is the most expensive government Scotland has ever had. This makes me

mad and what really makes me mad is being described as the angriest man

in Scotland, what makes me really mad what the SMP do, it is what the

do not do. They do not improve our schools are invested in our health

service. He could not care less about devolution in Scotland. They

want to order power for themselves not drive it down to cities and

local communities in Scotland. Mid-morning and it was time for the

Prime Minister who try to corral the referendum now voters into being

Conservatives. The first thing we need to tell voters and about our

United Kingdom. We always said we were the party of the union but now

it is clear we are the only party of the union. For the SNP it is still

independence or nothing despite us settling the matter for a generation

and now we have Labour and the live dens saying the politicians can

campaign either way if a second referendum should ever take place.

They have effectively abandoned the support for the union. For Scotland,

this is huge. It leaves just one party, the Conservatives, just one

person, Ruth Evenson, do speak for the 2 million people who voted no in

that referendum. Let's help these voters this. If you care about your

country and love Scotland and North Howard for nations are Better

Together and it is only one party for you and that is the party that

is right here in this room, the Scottish Conservative Party.

APPLAUSE We didn't just secured the future of the union by holding a

referendum but also by delivering real revolution. We reached the

latest milestone, a huge milestone in that journey just last week. I

know some people doubted whether we would ever get the. At every turn

they said you can't trust the toadies and at every turn we have

proved them wrong. They said we'd never see through Kalman but we gave

them the Scotland act. They said we'd never hold a referendum but we

did. They said we'd never deliver extra powers but we have. They said

we'd never follow Smith's recommendations but here the man I

admire, his recommendations are comprehensive, the biggest transfer

of our ever in UK devilish and giving Scotland control over VAT

spending, income tax bands and even some aspects of wealthier. We

implemented them. As he has the trip, says Smith the livered in

full. This will be transformational for our Parliament, he said, he was

right. The is now a huge opportunity, copper accountability

and Phil responsibility so it is time for the SNP Scottish Government

to end the grudge, bright and grievance and start to govern

Scotland. Then he turned his attention to the European

referendum. Anyone wanting to drink our whiskey, eat our salmon, where

our will, by our electronics and use our financial services, Scotland

relies on the door to the European market being wide open. The Iraq

250,000 jobs which are linked to our ability to trade with Europe. Let's

just take a look at one, food. Today, Scottish farmers can sell

their meat without quarters, without Paris, to a market of 500 million

people but if Britain leaves the EU that could change. A trade deal like

the one Canada agreed with the EU could involve Paris and quotas on

our. If we have to fall back on the basic rules of global creed as some

have suggested that could be tariffs of as high as 13% on Scottish

salmon, 14% on lamp and up to 17% on beef or ducts. I think the designed

for those who want to leave to explain what Scotland would look

like if we left and to start giving voters some of these facts it is for

them to look these farmers in the eye and tell them if we are going to

have two page tariffs how much. It is for them to argue that if this

great nation can treat with the world people are better off with

more jobs, more growth, more investment, more opportunities all

adding up to a brighter future for Scotland. Finally he argued the

Conservatives were the only credible Scottish opposition. We are the

party that can challenge the SNP. We are the only party that can properly

challenge the SNP day have been in power for nine years, they are the

establishment and with the collapse of Labour Scotland is in danger of

becoming a 1-party state. Look at the litany of SNP failure.

Children's attainment in school stagnating, the number of college

students falling, help for students at university cut. Increasing health

spending like we are doing in England unfulfilled. Then there is

the mess of the law that and football songs. The loss of

accountability that merged eight police forces into one. The

abolition of right to buy. Even though Nicola Sturgeon's family

benefited from it you can't. It is even this absurd named person policy

which means every child is allocated a Guardian even if they have even

sang no need for this extra bureaucracy. I can tell you who

needs a Guardian, someone to keep them in check, it is the SNP. The

rest of the morning was taken up with speeches. For David Mundell,

Secretary of State for Scotland. They have been posing as great

defenders of the Barnett formula and advocates of pulling and sharing of

UK wide resources. This is the same SNP that still advocate full fiscal

economy, that means totally scrapping the Barnett formula and

ending all pulling and shooting across the United Kingdom. What

would full fiscal autonomy actually mean? And Daniel every year at of

over ?10 billion from the Scottish budget. And from Michael Fallon, the

Defence Secretary, I climbed into the benefits of defence spending to

Scotland. That includes the two carriers, the

bigger ships the Royal navy will ever have, being built at Forsyth.

New frigates to be built in Govan. Upgraded, fast jets, jobs being

created at companies here in Edinburgh. We will also be creating

two additional front line RAF Typhoon squadrons, and I'm pleased

to confirm today that our preferred option is to be one of those new

squadrons at RAF Lossiemouth. The European debate is front and centre

of Conservative politics right now and is also caused a slit in the

party. Both David Cameron and Ruth Davidson are in favour of the UK

remaining in the EU but Liam Fox, a former Conservative Defence

Secretary, told a fringe breakfast meeting why he wasn't. The defining

image of the referendum campaign so far has been that of a British Prime

Minister having to take the equivalent of a political begging

bowl around other EU states, many smaller than the UK and often

subsidised by the UK's net contribution. All in order to secure

a minor changes to our own welfare laws. We should not have to ask

permission to change the benefit rules in our own country. The fact

that we asked for so little and got even less back is testament to the

fact that there is no reformed EU out there. And that the centre of

gravity is still moving inexorably towards the ever closer union that

has been the goal from the outset. This referendum is the opportunity

for us to cast off the shackles of an outdated political concept and

grasp the opportunities that a new open and liberal global era offers

us. We are not leaving the EU. We are rejoining the rest of the world.

If we leave the European Union, the next day, we will still have a

permanent seat on the Security Council of the UN, we will still be

at the heart of the Commonwealth, we will still be one of the world's top

ten economies and still have the world's fifth best defence budget,

still members of the G7 and G20, still be one of the key players in

nature with a special relationship with America. We will still be a

market that the EU countries need to export to. We import for more from

them so getting free trade agreement is far more urgent from them. This

is not a solution. This is no leap in the dark. This country has never

been isolated and stop what we have been is proud and independent and

free and it's because of our pride and our independence and freedom

that we were able to say to the European continent twice in the 20th

century from their own folly. The European scene continued at another

fringe chaired by the Daily Telegraph's Alan Cochrane. He

started with a straw poll to see what the audience thought. I want to

see a show of hands from people who agree with the proposition on the

ballot paper, should the UK remain a member of the EU. All shall please.

All those against? 55 dashboard if either. A slight majority in favour

of staying. When it came to the main speakers, it turned out they were

all in favour of remaining. Here is one of them. Europe is not perfect,

there's lots of things that irritate me, these bureaucrats in Brussels

making decisions on our behalf makes me angry but on balance we get a

better deal out of Europe by being part of it, at the heart of it, than

if we were on the sidelines. It has been improved by the deal which the

Prime Minister had achieved and we should pay credit to him. It has

changed the whole conversation and dialogue we will have about Europe.

I am becoming concerned about the tone with the Conservative Party in

terms of how we are conducting ourselves. It would be foolish of us

as a party if we were to rid ourselves to shreds on this issue.

One thing that has been clear to me during my time in politics is that

if voters don't like divided parties and if we wrap ourselves to shreds

over this one issue, the two people who will get advantage of that and

get political gain, the two are Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon.

It was left to speakers from the floor to put the case for leaving. I

don't want to be part of an organisation where an elected

officials take decisions that effect the UK. That is not going to change.

That won't change as a result of David Cameron's renegotiation. Nor

will it change where European judges can take decisions that user

decisions of our courts. None of that will change. There is enough

for me. But does that. I am for out. Back in the hall after lunch, there

was talk of passing on EU payments to farmers. I find myself in

Brussels dealing with farming issues. Right now the Scottish

Government are failing farmers. They are telling farmers in fact, don't

worry, we will soon sort it out. No, they want. ?178 million computer

system, only one flaw. It doesn't work. When I spoke to the commission

not so long ago, they said, the money is there, they just had to

make sure they can get it at the door. The problem is, they cannot.

It's in a bank account waiting to be spent. We were told we would receive

the money in December. Some farmers did on the 31st of December. Just

before the bells began to ring, the Scottish Government paid a small

amount of money to farmers and Lochhead habitability to say, we

kept our promise. Now, you bloody well didn't.

In the afternoon, the conference held a session on how the

Conservatives could be an effective opposition. Labour voters have a

tough choice. Stick with something we see is a mess, subscribe to the

crazy SNP delusions or look to a party such as Scottish Conservatives

who can be the strong opposition to the SNP. We know what we want, Ruth

Davidson has set this out for us. We are team riffs and we look like a

strong opposition to the ill thought out policy of the SNP. I want to say

more about the worrying aspect of the SNP and that is their status

approach to everything that they do. Whether it is land reform, the

centralisation of the police force, the abolition of the right to buy,

meddling in our colleges and universities and my goodness, how

much of that they have done! The SNP has made the state are paramount and

that is precisely why we need to be the opposition. The very worst

aspect of that, ladies and gentlemen, is the named person

policy. It is deeply controversial and it is deeply unpopular. Let me

be very clear. We all know that there has been a number of very

shocking cases across Scotland which have demonstrated just how bad it

can be some of our most vulnerable children. But instead of

prioritising urgent support for these must honourable children, the

SNP has taken the extraordinary, almost unbelievable decision, to

insist that every young person between zero and 18 must have a

state guardian. This will become law in August this year. Not

surprisingly, the reaction from the vast majority of parents has been an

angry one. This is because implicit in this policy is the insistence

that the state, rather than parents and families, has a primary

obligation to look after children. This, ladies and gentlemen, is just

plain wrong. If there are so many thousands of parents in Scotland

doing a really good job and there are, then what right does the

Scottish Government have tell them that the state knows better?

Finally, Scottish leader Ruth Davidson. She started with a lead at

the SNP. We thought the referendum was the end of it. What we have

learned since is that they have no intention of respecting bad result.

It shouldn't surprise us. Dogs bark, ducks quack and the SNP are for

breaking up Britain. I have said this time and again, we don't have

to be here. Nicholas Sturgeon can hear the divisions in our country by

simply repeating the words she claimed before, once in a

generation. Lord knows I've challenged her often enough to say

them again. Then she turned her fire and the other parties. The result of

the General Election showed as a board for the Lib Dems this time is

a wasted vote. If you live in Glasgow or Edinburgh, in the middle

Islands, Central Scotland or the West, don't have a Lib Dem SNP and

you haven't had one for five years. The party is too weak to represent

you at any Parliamentary level. What about Labour? I'm a Democrat. Even

as a centre right politician, I'm prepared to accept that every

country needs a centre left. What is the UK ever done to deserve Jeremy

Corbyn's Labour Party? I grew up watching Titans lead Labour. Now I

feel nostalgic for Ed Miliband! Then she turns to public spending. If we

want to maintain our NHS to the standard that we rightly expect,

then increased spending must be part of the solution. So we can announce

today and key demand that we will make of the new Scottish Government.

It is a fact, not well-known, that between 2010 and 2015 the SNP failed

to keep up with spending increases on the NHS. During that time,

spending on health in England rose by 7%. Only by 1% in Scotland.

Hundreds of millions of pounds promised but never delivered. At a

time when the population is ageing and demand is rising, the NHS needs

our support. That is why we propose today that the Scottish Government

backs a new NHS guarantee. Spending on our health service should rise

each year by whatever is highest, whether that is inflation, 2% by the

extra funding coming from. Every single penny passed on, that would

mean that help spending was rising by more than one pounds by the end

of this decade. Then her prescription for education. If the

NHS needs a checkup, and so do our schools. Scotland as a nation has

always understood that our future is inseparably linked to the education

of our children. But for too many, the ladder of opportunity is missing

the most important runs so I won't system that develops new leaders,

that empowers them and ensures we learn from their example. Right now,

only a tiny fraction of Scotland's teachers have any wish to go on and

be a head. Dozens of posts remain unfilled. We need leaders of our

future to know that they can make the maximum difference when they get

into power. That means real responsibility, that means handing

control over budgets and recruitment and the funding over the new

Scottish at challenge directly to head. It means being the best and

worst performing schools to help spread best practice, it means

putting greater focus on literacy and numeracy to ensure that by the

age of 11, every child can read well. It means proper testing and an

independent inspection regime, not an educational body in charge of

marking it on,. Finally, the big question, what would she say about

tax? We can cut tax in Scotland but over the medium term and our

manifesto will show how but if we're going to cut tax rates in Scotland,

I believe that we as a nation need to it first. The truth is, we

haven't done that yet. And left with a judgment and right here, right

now, when spending limits are still tough and public services like our

NHS and education system need support, I don't believe that the

time is right for a short-term tax cut below that of the UK. That is my

judgment as leader, that we will have a fair deal to protect the

Scottish taxpayer against tax rises and irresponsible approach to public

finances and I ask you today for your support. Bringing the key

message from this conference, they want to become the official

opposition at Holyrood, how likely is that? If you think about it from

an initial standpoint, it's a remarkable thing to say. Declaring

an advance that the SNP are likely to win and Nicola Sturgeon is likely

to be returned as First Minister. She is positing that victory and

offering herself as the counterbalance to it, offering

herself as the opposition. One, standing against any tax increases

and looking for parity divinity and between Scotland and England but

secondly, standing as the most vigorous opponent of a second

referendum or the prospect of independence. She is wanting all the

votes were in the Scottish referendum to her side just as she

believes the SNP have managed to corral the efforts. The issue of

Europe has been big. It has stood the party. Has there been must

discussion about this? It is huge. It is a gigantic issue

for the UK. For the Conservative arty. A debate on the fringe, at the

conference year, at the fringe, Liam Fox discussion, chat, horses, it is

dominating everything but a thread throughout the whole of it. The

divisions that are within the party, honourable but stark, the concern

might be that that overwhelms the United pitch for the elections on

May five. June 23 trumps May five. Some here are adamant that will not

be the case, they can stick to the message up to May five will stop

keep people focused on Holyrood until then and up till then we'll

deal with the main question. That is from the Conservative conference

year at Murrayfield stadium. We will be back next week with highlights

from